. >> so that was the president, and here's speaker boehner. >> on wednesday, i outlined a responsible path forward to avert the fiscal cliff without raising tax rates. about 24 hours after i spoke, the congressional budget office released a report showing the most harmful consequences of the fiscal cliff come from increasing tax rates. >> what speaker boehner did not mention was the cbo report said raising the top rate would only shave 1% of 10% off economic growth and only temporarily. those were the two open conditions in washington's showdown since the disaster. budget negotiators reconvene next week to try, in the words of one aide, to assess where they are. that's what puts republicans where they are in election 2012. it depends on who you ask or how you ask the question, what happened on tuesday night? gop strategist mary matalin, and david fromm, author of "why romney lost and what the gop can do about it." president obama and speaker boehner have said a lot of right things talking about compromise and cooperation, but on taxes, it seems the gap between the two sides is as big